The Story of Pakistan's M8 Motorway Construction Amid Baloch Insurgency

Construction on the recently completed 893 kilometer long Gwadar-Ratodero motorway, also known as M8, was started by a Chinese contractor back in early 2004 on former President Pervez Musharraf's watch. The work was soon abandoned when three Chinese engineers were killed by a car bomb during the first week of May, 2004. In 2003, a year before this incident, Indian intelligence agency RAW had recruited Kulbhushan Jadhav as an undercover agent. He was issued a passport under an assumed name ofHussein Mubarak Patel and sent toChabaharin Iran to orchestrate insurgent attacks next door in Balochistan.

After the Chinese left the project, another contractor who was awarded the project could not continue M8 construction. Eventually, Pakistan Army's Frontier Works Organization (FWO) completed the project 13 years later in 2017. This success has come at great cost in terms of time, money and human lives. FWO has lost dozens of military and civilian employees and many more have been injured in insurgent attacks. Meanwhile, a combination of military and intelligence operations by Pakistan Army and serious infighting among militants have significantly weakened the Baloch insurgency.

The M8 motorway connects Ratodero in Sindh toGwadarin Balochistan. It is 893 long and runs through Baloch cities of Khuzdar, Awaran, Hoshab and Turbat along its east-west route. Its recently completed first phase has two lanes and an additional two lanes are planned to handle future traffic growth. The motorway passes overDasht Riverand also provides access to Mirani Dam completed in 2006. It is the world's largest dam in terms of floodstock capacity of 588,690 cubic hectometer

Local Baloch residents now use M8 motorway on a daily basis. They say it has significantly reduced the time needed to travel from Gwadar to Turbat, and indeed, reduced the time for produce and supplies to be transported between cities, according a report inlocal Pakistani media.

The current Baloch Nationalist revolt in Pakistan started in 2003, the same year that Indian intelligence agency RAW recruitedKulbhushan Jadhavand gave him a new identity as Hussein Mubarak Patel, according to Indian media reports. This was three years before the killing of Baloch leader Akbar Bugti on August 26, 2006. Jadhav was sent to Chabahar in Iran to orchestrate insurgent attacks next door in Balochistan.

Kulbhushan Jadhav was arrested in Balochistan in 2016. He hasconfessedto orchestrating insurgent attacks on targets in Balochistan that resulted in deaths, injuries and destruction of property.

India's former RAW officers, including one ex chief, have blamed Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, arrested by Pakistan in 2016, for getting caught in Pakistan as a "result of unprofessionalism", according to a report in India's "The Quint" owned and operated by a joint venture of Bloomberg News and Quintillion Media. The report that appeared briefly on The Quint website has since been removed, apparently under pressure from the Indian government.

It is believed to be the strongest and longest of the insurgencies seen in Pakistani Balochistan which has had earlier bouts of it in 1948, 1958-59, 1962-63 and 1973-77.

State of Baloch Insurgency:

Baloch insurgency has been significantly weakened recently by the continuing military and intelligence operations of the Pakistan Army. The other probably more significant reason for it is serious infighting among insurgent groups from various tribes, according to pro-insurgent US-based Baloch analystMalik Siraj Akbarand a former US military intelligence officerretired US Lt. Col. Ralph Peters who supports Baloch insurgency.

In a US Congressional hearing on Balochistan, Peters said the most serious issues with the Baloch independence movement is “deeply troubling” infighting, according to a report inHuffPost. He condemned such bickering; going so far as to assert: “they are quickly becoming their own worst enemies.”

Peters has also pointed out gross human rights violations committed by Baloch insurgents against civilians. He said, “I am very concerned with Baloch extremists. Killing teachers and doctors is just dumb. It might feel good as revenge but it is not going to win you friends in Washington. Assassinating these folks is just hurting their movement.”

Frontier Works Organization (FWO):

The Frontier Works Organization (FWO) is a branch of the Pakistan Army that employs both active duty military officers and civilians. It was commissioned in 1966 and its first major project was the construction of the Karkoram Highway, the world's highest road that connects Pakistan with China. Since then, the FWO has built motorways, bridges, roads, tunnels, airfields and dams in Pakistan.

FWO has successfully completed several large construction projects in some of the most hostile conditions ranging from rough hilly terrains toinsurgency-hit parts in Balochistanand federally administered tribal areas (FATA). This success has come at great cost in terms of human lives. Dozens of FWO's military and civilian employees have lost their lives and many more have been injured in insurgent attacks.

China Pakistan Economic Corridor:

Currently, FWO is engaged in several large infrastructure projects related to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. In addition to major road construction, FWO is building housing, water projects, power plants and oil refineries in different parts of the country.

Various militant groups, including Indian government proxies, are engaged in sabotaging CPEC. While some attacks have been successful, it is believed that thePakistani militaryhas been able to prevent many more. Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of intelligence officers are believed to be working to manage the security situation all along thewestern routeand in Gwadar.

Summary:

The construction of the recently completed 893 kilometer long Gwadar-Ratodero motorway, also known as M8, was started by a Chinese contractor back in early 2004 on former President Pervez Musharraf's watch. The work was soon abandoned when three Chinese engineers were killed by a car bomb during the first week of May, 2004. In 2003, a year before this incident, Indian intelligence agency RAW had recruited Kulbhushan Jadhav as an undercover agent. He was issued a passport under an assumed name of Hussein Mubarak Patel and sent to Chabahar in Iran to orchestrate insurgent attacks next door in Balochistan.

After the Chinese left the project, another contractor who was awarded the project could not continue M8 construction. Eventually, Pakistan Army's Frontier Works Organization (FWO) completed the project 13 years later in 2017. This success has come at great cost in terms of time, money and human lives. FWO has lost dozens of military and civilian employees and many more have been injured in insurgent attacks. Meanwhile, a combination of military and intelligence operations by Pakistan Army and serious infighting among militants have significantly weakened the Baloch insurgency.

A senior Baloch activist claimed on Tuesday that he heckled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif during his 2015 visit to Washington at the behest of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).

Ahmer Mustikhan, foun­der of the American Friends of Balochistan (AFB) group, posted three online statements on Facebook on Tuesday after a district court in Maryland rejected an appeal to muzzle him.

AFB’s two Indian supporters — Soumya Chowd­hury and Krishna Gudipati — had filed the appeal, asking the judge to stop Mr Mustikhan from publicly sharing the internal affairs of the group. The court agreed with the Baloch activist’s plea that the US constitution guaranteed his freedom of expression.

Mr Mustikhan, who is also a journalist, claimed in the videos that he was “let down” by RAW operatives working from the Indian embassy in Washington. He identified one of them as Nagesh Bhushan who, Mr Mustikhan said, manned RAW’s Balochistan Desk.

On Oct 22, 2015, Mr Mustikhan heckled Mr Sharif during his speech at the US Institute for Peace in Washington and was removed by security personnel as he continued shouting for several minutes.

He then appeared on a series of Indian talk shows, explaining why he heckled the prime minister. He also heckled other Pakistani leaders, particularly former president Pervez Musharraf.

“I did this with a heavy heart, as I have no fight with Nawaz Sharif. He is an elected prime minister,” he told Dawn.

“Others, I heckled willingly.”

Mr Mustikhan said that India was supporting terrorism in Pakistan and this support started after the Kargil war and that’s why the current insurgency had continued for 12 years.

Mr Mustikhan claimed that RAW encouraged militants to kill Punjabi, Pakhtun and even Sindhi civilians. “We have no fight with civilians. They are our brothers,” he said. “They gave me a lot of mental torture [for opposing their plans]. They say if you kill, you are a hero otherwise you are zero.”

Since its inception in 1968, RAW has had a close liaison relationship with KHAD, the Afghan intelligence agency, due to the intelligence it has provided RAW on Pakistan. This relationship was further strengthened in the early 1980s when the foundation was laid for a trilateral cooperation involving RAW, KHAD, and the Soviet KGB. Raman says RAW valued KHAD’s cooperation for monitoring the activities of Sikh militants in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Sikhs in the Indian state of Punjab were demanding an independent state of Khalistan. According to Raman, Pakistan’s ISI set up clandestine camps for training and arming Khalistani recruits in Pakistan’s Punjab Province and North West Frontier Province. During this time, the ISI received large sums from Saudi Arabia and the CIA for arming the Afghan mujahadeen against Soviet troops in Afghanistan. “The ISI diverted part of these funds and arms and ammunition to the Khalistani terrorists,” alleges Raman.

---------------

As a result, India established a dedicated external intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing. Founded mainly to focus on China and Pakistan, over the last forty years the organization has expanded its mandate and is credited with greatly increasing India’s influence abroad. Experts say RAW’s powers and its role in India’s foreign policy have varied under different prime ministers. RAW claims that it contributed to several foreign policy successes:

the creation of Bangladesh in 1971;India’s growing influence in Afghanistan;the northeast state of Sikkim’s accession to India in 1975;the security of India’s nuclear program;the success of African liberation movements during the Cold War.Over the last forty years the organization has expanded its mandate and is credited with increasing India’s influence.

RAW’s first leader, Rameshwar Nath Kao, led the agency until he retired in 1977. Many experts, including officers who worked with him, credit Kao with RAW’s initial successes: India’s triumph in the 1971 war with Pakistan, and India’s covert assistance to the African National Congress’s anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa. “To a large extent, it was Kao who raised RAW to the level of India’s premier intelligence agency, with agents in virtually every major embassy and high commission,” writes Singh. But the organization has been criticized for its lack of coordination with domestic intelligence and security agencies, weak analytical capabilities, and complete lack of transparency.

China strengthens its grip on south Asia By: Elliot Wilson Published on

@ 2018 Results index If the Belt and Road Initiative has a blind spot, it is surely to be found in south Asia. The region is home to one country that can’t get enough of the project (Pakistan), and another (India) that wants nothing to do with it. Does this matter? Well, yes and no. On the plus side, Pakistan, which is chronically short of friends and capital, shows no sign of falling out of love with a project that continues to shower it with financial largesse. The list of Chinese-funded and Chinese-built infrastructure projects is long and impressive. Take the $2.9 billion, 400-kilometre stretch of the M5 Motorway funded by China Development Bank (CDB) and built by China State Construction Engineering. When the motorway is completed later this year, the cities of Karachi and Lahore will finally be linked, by a project that was first drawn up as long ago as the 1990s. CDB is the financial driving force behind many of the big local BRI deals. In December 2017, the policy bank was a key player in a 10-year, $700 million syndicated term loan raised for the finance ministry, a deal that included partial guarantees from the World Bank. It is funding an $883 million coal-fired power plant at Port Qasim. And in April, CDB shelled out $1 billion to a government that, not for the first time, faces a looming financing crisis. Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves dipped below the $10 billion mark this July, for the first time since 2014. China is unlikely to turn off the spigot, even though the position of prime minister, vacated after the arrest of Nawaz Sharif in July, has been filled by Imran Khan, the former cricketer who campaigned hard against alleged corruption in local China-backed construction projects. Yet Beijing is clearly keen to keep Khan on-side: days after his election, it handed Pakistan another $2 billion, bolstering the perception that however bad its finances get, China will not turn its back on the south Asian state. That should come as no surprise. Beijing plans to spend up to $57 billion by 2030 on a profusion of new domestic infrastructure projects – ports, airports, highways, power plants, transmission lines, solar parks – which are all part of the so-called China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Both can see clearly what they get out of this transactional alliance: for China, a reliable overland route to the Indian Ocean that bypasses the Malacca Strait, and for Pakistan, the infrastructure it always wanted and needed, but couldn’t afford. And so we turn to India, which has, to say the least, a different relationship with its giant neighbour. It was a founding member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2014, and is the second-largest contributor after the People’s Republic, funding the China-led multilateral to the tune of $8.4 billion. It is also a founding member of another multilateral, the Shanghai-headquartered New Development Bank, which is chaired by KV Kamath, the former chairman of Indian IT firm Infosys. Yet India adamantly refuses to be considered a belt-and-road nation. Rafiqul Islam At a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in June, India was the only member state that did not tacitly endorse the BRI programme. New Delhi resents the mere existence of the CPEC project with Pakistan, and fears being outflanked in its own backyard by Beijing, which is funding a series of massive infrastructure projects in states that border India, or are historically aligned with it. The question arises: does India need to be part of the BRI project?

Qasir Abbas, a 40-year-old Pakistani farmer who owns a 400-acre mango farm in Multan in the central Punjab Province, witnessed changes brought about by the construction of the Multan-Sukkur Motorway, locally known as M5.

Abbas sells mangoes from his hometown, known for conditions favourable to food and crops such as mango, cotton and sugarcane, to the southern major port city of Karachi, some 900km away. However, the two cities were connected with a poorly maintained highway, with the whole journey taking about 21 hours.

Governor inaugurates CPEC’s Centre of Excellence

The 392km six-lane M5 is the largest transportation infrastructure project under the CPEC, a corridor linking Karachi and northwestern Peshawar and running through the populated provinces of Punjab and Sindh.

The first 33-km section of the M5 was inaugurated in May this year, with a speed limit of 120 km per hour. The whole project is scheduled to be completed by August 2019. “By then, it will take only 14 hours to transport my mangoes to Karachi,” Abbas said.

In LaosLife took a surprising turn in early 2016 for Bounmy Phonmixay, a 21-year-old young woman in the central Lao town of Kasi, when a team of engineers arrived for a rail project near her home.

CPEC to bring development revolution, says Bizenjo

It was literally a game-changer.

A single mum, Bounmy lives with her mother and her three-year-old daughter. Two years ago, she was almost in a depressing state of hopelessness, struggling to make ends meet by growing paddy rice and vegetables on leased land. Then, she found a job working at the construction site of the China-Laos railway, an infrastructure project under the Belt and Road Initiative.

When she showed up for an interview with Xinhua recently at the railway project site in Kasi, she was wearing the makeup she likes. “I like wearing makeup, but I seldom did it in the past since I didn’t have much money back then. Now I can afford my own cosmetics and put on makeup whenever I want to,” she said joyfully.

The game changer

The Chinese engineers were there to prepare for the railway project, which links the Mohan-Boten border gate in the northern part of the landlocked country with the capital Vientiane.

Is CPEC also a game changer for Balochistan?

Bounmy was offered the job in 2016 to cook for the builders who were away from home. She got to know many of the builders and was happy with her new job. She learned to cook some dishes, both Chinese and Lao.

“I earn 1.5 million kip (about $176) every month. I give 200,000 kip to my mother, spend 500,000 kip on my daughter’s snacks, milk and toys, and still have 800,000 to myself,” she said. “Although it is quite a busy job, working here makes me feel like being home.”

The China-Laos railway is the first overseas route to connect with the railway system in China, leveraging Chinese technology, equipment and investment. It is designed to have an operating speed of 160 km per hour.

“We grow excellent paddy rice and xiaomila (a pepper) here in Kasi, but not many people know it,” she said. “Hopefully, with the new railway in place, more people would travel to Kasi and take our products farther away so they would be better known to all.”

The railway is expected to be fully operational in 2021, but Bounmy does not worry about losing her job by then. “I have learnt a lot from my work, especially Chinese cooking. When the railway is in place, there will be many people traveling around the station, then I’ll start my own restaurant there,” she said.

Leader of #ChineseConsulate attack in #Karachi #Pakistan reported dead.“The important #BLA commander Aslam Baloch, along with five associates in the organization were martyred in an enemy attack on Monday,” BLA's Jiand Baloch announced #Balochistan #CPEC https://reut.rs/2Ly6ljL

One of the alleged masterminds of an attack by a Pakistani separatist group on the Chinese consulate in Karachi last month has been killed along with five associates, the insurgent group said on Wednesday.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which opposes projects linked to China’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative in resource-rich Baluchistan, issued a statement on Tuesday confirming the death of Aslam Baloch, one of its leaders.

“The important BLA commander Aslam Baloch, along with five associates in the organization were martyred in an enemy attack on Monday,” Jiand Baloch, a spokesman for the separatist group said in a statement that gave no further details.

Pakistan’s Samaa Television reported that Aslam was killed along with a number of his commanders in a suicide attack in Aino Maina in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, across the border from Baluchistan.

There was no claim of responsibility for the killings and a spokesman for the Pakistani foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

Last month, three attackers stormed the Chinese consulate in Karachi, killing four people. Security forces killed the three attackers who were carrying explosives.

Pakistan has long accused its old rival India of supporting insurgents in Baluchistan. India denies helping Baluchistan insurgents and accuses Pakistan of nurturing Islamist militants throughout the region.

China has funded development of a deepwater port at Gwadar in south Baluchistan, and is also investing in other projects as part of the giant China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Baluchistan, on the borders of Afghanistan and Iran, has rich mineral and natural gas reserves but is Pakistan’s poorest province.

Separatists have for decades campaigned against what they see as the unfair exploitation of resources, in particular natural gas and minerals.

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